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Trump Visits Mexico. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 31, 2016 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:02]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Trump's own advisers actually tell CNN that this photo-op in Mexico was one of the reasons Mr. Trump decided to take this trip south of the border ahead of his big speech tonight in Phoenix.

And you have to wonder, after Trump meets this afternoon with Enrique Pena Nieto, will Trump make any last-minute changes to his immigration speech? He is set to deliver that speech in Phoenix a couple of hours after leaving Mexico.

So, let's first begin in Mexico City with my colleague John Vause.

John, tell me about Mr. Trump and the Mexican president's plans for the day? And do we know where Mr. Trump is right now?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we believe that the helicopter which touched down here a short time ago had Donald Trump on board, and the meeting between President Pena Nieto and Mr. Trump will begin shortly.

And then after that, in about 50 minutes' time, between 30 and 50 minutes' time, both men will make remarks. I'm being told by a campaign source that there will be no questions. This is the back and forth. Will there will be questions? Will they take questions or they won't take questions? Right now, it looks like they won't take questions.

So we won't get answers to some of those issues that obviously will be very prominent during the meeting between these two men, mostly the wall, who will pay for the wall, will they build the wall? Will there be any policy shift by Donald Trump when it comes to his immigration policy, very tough immigration policy towards Mexico?

But right now, Brooke, it's important to note that these two men having this meeting right now are probably the two most unpopular men in Mexico right at the moment. Donald Trump, according to some polls here, has an approval rating of somewhere between 2 percent and 7 percent.

As far as the Mexican president, his approval rating is around 23 percent. That's the lowest since he took office back in 2012. A lot of people are asking what's in this meeting for the Mexican president, what does he get out of it, being photographed smiling and shaking hands with Donald Trump, a man who is deeply unpopular among many Mexicans?

And one last point here. It was interesting that he took this chopper ride from the airport to the presidential palace. Obviously, one of the main reasons for that is the notorious traffic here in Mexico City. But it also meant that Donald Trump didn't see some of the street protests which have been taking place here in Mexico City over the last couple of hours, because he is a man who is deeply, deeply unpopular in this country because of everything he has said and his policies on immigration, on trade, on security over the last 14 months.

It will be interesting to see what will come out of this meeting, any policy shift, or whether it is just kind of a publicity stunt by Donald Trump.

BALDWIN: You know, we will see. And you're right, there won't be questions. That's what we understand. But we know that Trump will be giving remarks and that will happen after the meeting just in some minutes from now.

So stand by for that, John Vause. We will loop back with you.

And with John's points, everything that Mr. Trump has said about Mexico and Mexicans and undocumented immigrants here, the Mexican president, Enrique Pena Nieto, has long been on the defensive, even some months ago comparing Mr. Trump to Hitler and Mussolini, although he has since softened some of his words there.

But this is a look back at a very public, fiery feud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.

Our politicians are stupid, and the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them.

ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Whoever insults and talks bad about Mexico doesn't know Mexico. Whoever insults Mexicans doesn't know Mexicans. It seems to me that they are hurting the relationship that Mexico has sought out with the United States.

TRUMP: We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back. Some will come back, the best, through a process. They have to come back legally.

PENA NIETO (through translator): In the past, some leaders addressed their societies in those terms. Hitler and Mussolini did that. And the outcome, it is clear to everyone. It resulted in devastation and tragedy for mankind. TRUMP: We are going to build a great wall. The wall is going to be

paid for by Mexico. People are not going to be able to tunnel because we're going to have tunnel technology. We're going to have a strong border, we're going to have a tremendous wall, we're going to have a wall that Mexico pays which will be easy because they are making a fortune with us.

PENA NIETO (through translator): There is a way to have Mexico pay the wall, but any decisions inside the United States is a decision of its government.

QUESTION: But under no circumstances would Mexico pay for that...

(CROSSTALK)

PENA NIETO (through translator): There is no way that Mexico can pay a wall like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's bring in a number of voices here to have a conversation about this Mexico trip today.

I have Trump surrogate, member of Trump's National Hispanic Advisory Council, Steve Cortes. CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger is here with us. CNN commentator Bakari Sellers, who supports Hillary Clinton, Andrew Selee, the executive vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and knows a lot about Mexico. And also Brian Stelter is back with us, our senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES."

[15:05:20]

So, here we are. We all officially know that Mr. Trump is in Mexico. He's on his way to meet with the president.

Steve, beyond -- according to this Trump adviser, he's there for to look presidential and a photo-op. What's the goal?

STEVE CORTES, TRUMP SURROGATE: Right.

No, Brooke, I think this is substantive. And, look, I think he is acting very presidential. At the same time that Hillary Clinton is on the Hamptons and she's partying with aged rock stars, at the invitation of president of one of our most important allies and trading partners and our neighbor Mexico, Donald Trump said, yes, let's start to talk because we have some serious issues, we have serious some opportunity, the two countries together.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: She's actually in Ohio.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: She's actually in Ohio today, I think, speaking to veterans. BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: American Legion.

BALDWIN: American Legion. So...

CORTES: OK. But she spent the last couple of days on the Hamptons and couldn't be bothered to honor this request, this invitation from President Pena Nieto.

So, I think that it's -- I think Donald Trump is already starting to act presidential. The fact that he went to Louisiana, the fact that now he is in Mexico. And I don't know. Obviously, none of us know what they are discussing. We're going to hear about it later. But I hope they're discussing very serious issues, things like we need to revise the NAFTA agreement. We need to make sure that the border is controlled from both sides of the border.

We need Mexico's help to do that. And we have a bright future together, but we have to act as real friends, and we can't ignore the issues that are facing us.

BALDWIN: Is it, Steve, odd, though, that this Trump adviser, yes, echoing your points and also saying this shows team Trump is nimble, but that this is a photo-op, acknowledging that it is a photo-op? Is that something you want to do?

CORTES: No, I'm not saying -- of course...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I'm saying the Trump adviser told CNN it is a photo-op, which strikes me as odd.

CORTES: OK, no. I would respectfully then disagree. This is not just a photo-op. Sure, that's part of it. Images do matter, of course, in the political game.

But I think this is more substantive, much more substantive than photo-op. Again, too, we don't know what the substance is yet. These two men are meeting in private in a very small group. I think we are going to know more shortly and we are going to know much, much more tonight when Donald Trump lays out his full extensive immigration plan.

BALDWIN: Bakari, to you, because we know Hillary Clinton is in Ohio. Yes, she was fund-raising, and, yes, that is a piece of all of this. But she had met with President Pena Nieto two years ago. Her response has been, I will do so in appropriate time.

But she could get on a plane, to other folks' points.

SELLERS: I think the answer to the question is that she will in due time.

Donald Trump is going today because Donald Trump has muddled and made a mess of his immigration policy, something that we haven't really seen a major candidate do, especially being the reason he got elected. Exit poll after exit poll showed the number one issue that Republican voters voted for was immigration.

And for him to come out and still not have a clear immigration plan I think is a problem. So, yes, I think today is somewhat going to take a little bit of heat off of tonight's speech. The image that you're going to see on every newspaper tomorrow is going to be a image of him with the president of Mexico. We're going to have some dialogue.

BALDWIN: Could be a good thing for Trump.

SELLERS: Well, I think that is going to be a good thing for Trump, because Trump's immigration plan has been, he floated out this softening, this amnesty. In fact, Amnesty Don was trending. But it got blasted by Laura Ingraham. It got blasted by Ann Coulter. It got blasted Rush Limbaugh.

And now he is back to his position. And the only thing that separated Donald Trump from the rest of his competitors, the John McCains and the Marco Rubios and others, great Republican stalwarts, was his deportation force and building this wall.

I believe that he has backed away -- he hasn't backed away from any of those things. The question is, is he going to break up those 11 million families? The answer is yes.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Can I just say, this is -- if we take a step back, this is classic Donald Trump. Here, he has got to give an immigration. He's had a week leading up to this, with people accusing him of flip-flopping on this question of mass deportation.

So, what does he do? He does something dramatic, theatrical. He's flying to Mexico.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: And we're all talking about it.

BORGER: And we're all talking about it.

And he's meeting with the president of Mexico. They will have a press conference without questions. They're going to give these statements and then they're each going to use the other guy as props. Right? Donald Trump will use him as a prop and the president of Mexico will probably rail about Donald Trump once he's gone, and that might help his popularity.

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Steve. I know you were trying jump in. Please do.

CORTES: Yes, I don't think that's fair. This is not just theatrics.

And he has actually been remarkably consistent on immigration. He has said from the very start of his campaign that, number one, we will build a wall and we will secure our southern border. And that's been nonnegotiable. Number two, he has said all along no path to citizenship. And that

was very different certainly from Hillary Clinton and also different from many of his Republican opponents. We cannot reward criminal activity with American citizenship. He's been very consistent on those points.

[15:10:04]

Now, he is potentially shifting. And we don't know yet. He is potentially shifting on how we treat the 11 million illegal immigrants who are here. So, I will concede that.

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: That's call a flip-flop. That's not called a shift.

CORTES: No, It is not called a flip-flop, because the nonnegotiables are still there. And what he's doing is exerting real leadership. listening to the Hispanic community. He's listening to his supporters.

(CROSSTALK)

CORTES: How do we humanely and sensibly deal with this very large problem?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Bakari.

SELLERS: I know you have to bring in other guests. We have other people here.

But the fact is that Donald Trump Jr. floated this out the other night and you're floating it now, that all of a sudden we're going to take baby steps and deal with the criminals first. Well, the fact is, you have 690,000 illegal immigrants in this country who have either been convicted of either or a serious misdemeanor who fall under that criminal provision.

That's about 6 percent of the 11 million undocumented immigrants. The question is, how are you going to fix that problem? You can't just keep telling me we're going to get the bad ones out and that would be a solution to the immigration problem.

Donald Trump floated a balloon. It was flip-flopping. And now we are at a point where we don't know what he is going to say tonight.

(CROSSTALK)

CORTES: That is not a solution, but it is where we start. Sanctuary cities I think is the very next plausible step and next step. Look, we have to do this in steps. After that, I think we go after anyone here illegally who is a drain on our system, who is somehow scamming the system.

And then after that, when we get to people who are good people, who have been here for decades...

SELLERS: Sounds like Barack Obama.

(CROSSTALK)

CORTES: ... who have families. In that case, look, we could agree with Obama on certain things.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hang on. Hang on.

Can I bring Andrew into this conversation? Because I promise we have many, many more minutes to talk about this immigration speech. You are all bringing up excellent, excellent points and conundrums.

But, Andrew, here's my question to you is, when you think about this trip today, from the Mexican perspective, what's in it for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to have Mitt Romney to the presidential palace, especially since his approval ratings aren't so hot, and a lot of Mexicans don't really like him?

ANDREW SELEE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS: Well, first of all, let me say, there is a lot at stake in this relationship between Mexico and the U.S.

Illegal immigration, you would never know it from the debate, but there is very little of it these days. There is probably more Mexicans returning to Mexico than coming across the border. That ended a number of years ago.

What is coming across the border is trade, right? And so we have a great deal of trade and investment going back and forth. And the Mexican economy depends on the U.S. economy. And, frankly, the U.S. economy -- Mexico is the second destination for our exports, so it's a big part of our industrial backbone for well.

For Mexico and for Pena Nieto, I think the biggest question is, you have one of the two candidates that for the first time ever they don't really know. They have always known who the presidential candidates are. They have always had channels with them. This is the first time there's someone who seems to have made Mexico a really big part of his campaign and they don't know him.

And I think the biggest part of the invitation was wanting to get to know this person and begin to have a dialogue.

(CROSSTALK)

SELEE: Whether this works or not, I don't know, because, as you said, Pena Nieto is not popular.

Whether this works or not, I -- most Mexicans have not taken this well. They see this as a weak president giving Donald Trump a platform to take a photo-op. They don't like it. But I think from Pena Nieto's perspective, it is a chance to open up a dialogue with one of the two major contenders in the U.S. presidential race.

BALDWIN: Andrew, do you think it is possible the president extended these two invitations -- remember, Hillary Clinton was invited as well -- this happened last week -- and that Donald Trump just surprised him and said, OK, I'm coming tomorrow?

SELEE: I think that's almost certainly the case. I think no one expected it to happen this soon. I think the big question is, why did they then agree to it so quickly without the preparations ahead of time? That seems a little unusual.

But on the other hand, I think they are avid to get to know a candidate they don't know. They know Hillary Clinton very well. She was secretary of state. She's been to Mexico. She was a senator. I think they jumped at the opportunity to get to know a candidate that makes them a little bit nervous and that they are afraid that a lot of the trade between the two countries could be disrupted in an administration with someone that they don't have good contact with.

BALDWIN: And then the media angle, which is also fascinating.

Brian Stelter, we were talking. Normally, we would be showing live pictures. We'd have crews waiting at the airport. By the way, this would be for any -- either candidate, crews waiting at the airport, watching the travel, the car or the chopper. We saw a quick shot of it. What's the deal?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I think if you are a Trump skeptic, you look at this last-minute trip and you think, this was a rash decision put together in just a couple of days, really just the last few hours. It was confirmed it was a surprise trip.

That might make you uncomfortable when thinking about Trump's leadership skills. On the other hand, this is straight out of "The Art of the Deal." As Gloria was saying, classic Donald Trump. Page 345 of "The Art of the Deal," he is a master negotiator. But as hard as I push at the end of the day, I'm practical.

He's been pushing for a year, criticizing Mexico, and now he is being practical. Now he's going to the Mexican leader's office, sitting down for a meeting that's happening as we speak. It is classic Donald Trump. But at the same time, it is frustrating that journalists were not along for the ride.

There is a pack of journalists who follow Trump everywhere he goes sitting in Phoenix right now. They have a plane, they were ready to go with him, but the Trump campaign did not make the necessary arrangements.

[15:15:02]

So, that's why we're not seeing the kind of access we would normally see when a presidential nominee goes on a foreign trip.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Quickly, Steve.

(CROSSTALK)

CORTES: Point on negotiation.

Trump has sold himself from the beginning, very rightly so, as a master negotiator. America comes out short on negotiations globally,, whether it's with Iran over nukes, China over trade, Mexico over immigration.

He is going to change all of that. He's going to negotiate from the position of strength. We should as a country like America.

BALDWIN: These two leaders meeting right now behind closed doors at the presidential palace there at Constitution Plaza in Mexico City. We will then any moment now hear live from Donald Trump himself.

Everyone, don't move. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, back to our breaking news.

We know that right now, according to the Trump campaign, Mr. Trump and the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, are meeting right now behind closed doors at the presidential palace there in Mexico City.

[15:20:02]

So, let's get the perspective of Christine Murray. She's the Mexico correspondent for Reuters who's lived there for about two-and-a-half years.

Christine, thank you so much for joining me.

And let me just first begin with the Mexican reaction to Mr. Trump being there. How are most folks feeling?

CHRISTINE MURRAY, REUTERS: Well, I have been out this morning talking to a lot of different people. Obviously, on social media, on Twitter, there is a lot of anger about the visit and confusion about why Pena Nieto would accept the meeting.

But, I mean, talking to normal people out on the street, there's a really mixed view. There is, of course, almost universal dislike for Mr. Trump, and particularly his policy about the wall and some of the comments he's made about Mexicans.

But also they're angry about the demonization of Mexicans who have gone to the U.S. to work who have been portrayed in a negative light by Mr. Trump.

BALDWIN: To be fair, it was the Mexican president who extended Mr. Trump the invitation. He just simply said, yes, I will come. He also extended the invitation to Hillary Clinton last week. But here is the other piece that hasn't really been discussed yet, is

the security aspect of all of this. It is essentially a blackout. No one's seen pictures of Donald Trump arriving. No one's seen him walking in the presidential palace, which is so sort of un-Trump. And my question is, do you have any intel from Secret Service or security, anyone saying, don't go?

MURRAY: I know there was a report out of the U.S. yesterday that there was Secret Service concerns about the trip.

But we haven't heard much from this end about whether it would be dangerous for Mr. Trump. I mean, again, talking to people on the street, I have heard people wonder about that. But I know that there was a protest this morning where there was, for some people, a disappointing turnout. I'm not sure.

I haven't heard much about specific security threats. We kind of suspected that he would arrive and get straight in a helicopter. If you know about Mexico City traffic, he probably wouldn't come in a taxi to Los Pinos, given his short visit.

BALDWIN: I spent a number of months in Mexico City, went to school there. And I know exactly where he is. And I have seen many, many protests also in that plaza around the presidential palace. And we are also watching for those protest pictures.

But so, just so I'm clear, because I understand there have been threats made against Mr. Trump, drug cartels, bounties. You have heard nothing about that in the last 12 hours?

MURRAY: I haven't seen much reporting of that at all. You're right, in the past, since Trump has started speaking out and saying -- making negative remarks about Mexicans, you are right, there have been people who have come out on Twitter who claim to be making threats against him.

But, as far as I know, none of that has been brought up since the visit was announced.

BALDWIN: So, you have talked about how Mexicans feel about Mr. Trump being there. But what about how Mexicans feel about their own president, you know, hosting Mr. Trump?

Because what I understand, his approval ratings are the lowest they have been in the last quarter-century. What's the benefit for Enrique Pena Nieto?

MURRAY: Well, that's a very good question.

And I think a lot of the confusion on the ground here about this stems from that very question. Perhaps -- some people have suggested there perhaps is a distraction factor from some of the domestic issues that the president's been having.

As you said, his approval ratings are at definitely a low for his presidency, and, according to some polls, the lowest for a long time. And perhaps he thinks that there's some kind of -- it provides a distraction from issues around the economy, around security and around political corruption.

BALDWIN: Christine Murray, the Mexico correspondent for Reuters, thank you so much for the Mexican perspective. I appreciate that.

And, again, we know these two are meeting at the presidential palace. And any moment now, we will see Donald Trump speaking about this live as he steps out from that meeting.

Also ahead, Hillary Clinton slams Donald Trump's visit to Mexico as nothing more than a photo-op. We are live on the campaign trail to see how she is responding to all of this. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:10]

BALDWIN: And we are just about at the bottom of the hour. You are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Back to the breaking story here. Any moment now, Donald Trump is expected to walk out of this closed-door meeting with the president of Mexico and speak. Not sure if questions will be able to be asked or not. There's some conflicting details on that.

But, by the way, Hillary Clinton, she is definitely criticizing his visit there to Mexico City today. Her campaign says -- quote -- "What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportations of millions."

Hillary Clinton also has hit Trump, though she barely mentioned his name, while speaking to veterans in Cincinnati today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You don't build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon.

And it certainly takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours, and then flying home again. That is not how it works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)